Action Against Hunger - Lebanonhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/taxonomy/countries/middle-east/lebanon
enSyrian Refugees in Lebanon: Their Stories and Our Work Through Pictureshttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/syrian-refugees-lebanon-their-stories-and-our-work-through-pictures
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Syrian_refugees_1.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Syrian_refugees_1.jpg" width="640" height="350" alt="" />
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p><strong>This little girl and her family are still adjusting to life in a refugee camp outside of Zahle, a small city near the Syrian border. They’re just a few of the 1.5 million civilians who have fled to Lebanon over the past three years of conflict. </strong></p>
<p><img alt="Children living in a refugee camp in Zahle" height="350" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/upload/other_alternate_for_3.jpg" title="Children living in a refugee camp in Zahle" width="640" /></p>
<p><strong>As a border town, Zahle is one of the most overcrowded hubs for refugees. Many children like these are forced to make do without running water or electricity as their families try to look for work on local farms.</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Father and son in the city of Tyre." height="350" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/upload/Syrian_refugees_2.jpg" title="Father and son in the city of Tyre." width="640" /></p>
<p><strong>Mohamed Hussein Ashua now lives in the southern city of Tyre with his wife and children: “I’ve been here with my family for four years. We left just before things got bad. I’ve seen so many more people coming in, steadily arriving with fewer and fewer possessions. It’s sad because it just shows me that the situation back home is getting worse.” <span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Action Against Hunger is providing aid to these people and so many others like them.</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;"><img alt="WASH programs in Zahle" height="350" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/upload/Syrian_refugees_6.jpg" title="WASH programs in Zahle" width="640" /></span></p>
<p><strong>Our water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs in the Zahle camps are improving conditions to help children like these stay safe and healthy. </strong></p>
<div><img alt="Cash for for work programs in Tyre" height="350" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/upload/Syrian_refugees_5.jpg" title="Cash for for work programs in Tyre" width="640" /></div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Our <a href="/blog/cash-work-program-aid-syrian-refugees-lebanon-launches">Cash For Work</a> programs are bringing crucial infrastructure and a sense of community to the refugee camps around Zahle.</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div><img alt="Cash for food programs in Tyre" height="350" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/upload/Syrian_refugees_4.jpg" title="Cash for food programs in Tyre" width="640" /></div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Our Cash For Food program aids refugees and local residents alike in Tyre. The program empowers families to select and purchase their own food rations while stimulating the local economy.</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div><em> All Photos by Gonzalo Hohr</em></div>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/syrian-refugees-lebanon-their-stories-and-our-work-through-pictures" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Their Stories and Our Work Through Pictures" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 04 Sep 2014 15:01:59 +0000rhead7183 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgSyria: Three Years of Crisishttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/syria-three-years-crisis
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Libano_NOV13_-_31.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Libano_NOV13_-_31.jpg" width="3798" height="2537" alt="Syrian kids" title="Syrian children like these remain refugees in Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, C. Gayo" />
<div class="caption">Syrian children like these remain refugees in Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, C. Gayo</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The Ides of March—it holds such an ominous place in our collective literary and social consciousness. Some we may chalk up to superstition. But some, it seems, is frighteningly all too real—tomorrow, March 15</span><sup>th</sup><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">, marks the third anniversary of the beginning of crisis in Syria. The numbers are staggering. More than 100,000 people have died, 2.5 million are refugees, and more than four million are internally displaced within their devastated home country.</span></p>
<h2>A full-blown regional crisis</h2>
<p>As bombings continue, more and more Syrians are seeking refuge abroad—much to the strain on their host nations. As it stands now, some 900,000 Syrians are in Lebanon, 613,000 in Turkey, 590,000 in Jordan, 222,600 in Iraq, and 133,000 in Egypt. </p>
<p>As such, the conflict has truly erupted into a regional one—and has unequivocally been dubbed by the NGO community as the worst humanitarian crisis of our generation. The countries bordering Syria, particularly Lebanon and Jordan, are feeling the weight of the constant flow of refugees. In Lebanon, for example, the more than 900,000 registered refugees represent nearly 25% of the host country’s population of four million. In areas close to the Syrian border, like Aarsal, the number of refugees far exceeds the population of native Lebanese.</p>
<h2>A coordinated NGO response</h2>
<p>According to Rob Drouen, a regional representative for Action Against Hunger in the Middle East, NGOs have stepped up as the main actors attempting to mitigate the crisis. Rob chairs the Board of the Regional Forum of NGOs in Syria, a 33-member group aiming to influence regional humanitarian policy.</p>
<p>Our teams are hard at work collaborating with governments to develop new services for refugees and host communities alike, and to support long-term interventions. We work through several coordination platforms, meeting with our colleague organizations to ensure proper coverage of food security, water, and nutrition programming throughout the region.</p>
<blockquote><p>“The Syrian crisis has emerged as a regional crisis that affects not only refugees but also communities and host governments, and it can lead to more division.”</p>
<p>—<em>Rob Drouen, Regional Representative-Middle East, Action Against Hunger</em></p></blockquote>
<p>By coordinating with our peers to aim for a situation in which no needs go over- or under-met, we’ve designed a comprehensive suite of response services, being implemented throughout the region. This means our efforts may entail nutrition response in one location, and water and sanitation or food security efforts in another. From distributing meals, blankets, diapers and hygiene kits, to distributing water by truck, to providing livestock vaccinations and fodder, to building latrines and so much more—we’re taking a nuanced, community-based approach to response.</p>
<h2>Real families, real stories</h2>
<p>The numbers associated with this crisis are astounding, and it can make it hard to remember that individual families just like ours are the ones who are suffering—and the ones we are working so hard to help.</p>
<p>Five-year-old Rawan had her leg shattered by a missile when she was on her way to the market with her mother in Yabroud, Syria. "We were coming down the stairs towards the market, when the rocket exploded," her mother, Rasha, explained. The bomb exploded, spitting up thousands of fragments that embedded in the legs of both mother and daughter. Rasha’s husband died, and Rawan lost so much blood that she needed several transfusions and was comatose for three days.</p>
<p>Rawan and her mother have been placed in one of our settlements in Abo Noor, Lebanon, where we’re providing drinking water and sanitation structures for refugees. We’re also collaborating with Handicap International to try to secure Rawan a wheelchair.</p>
<p>Disoriented and living in difficult conditions, refugees like Rawan are extremely vulnerable—and we fear the deterioration of family units. That’s why we’ve also starting programming focused on protecting family ties and promoting community solidarity. It’s this combination of care—physical, social, and emotional—that we hope makes the difference for Rawan, Rasha, and the millions like them across the region.</p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/syria-three-years-crisis" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Syria: Three Years of Crisis" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Fri, 14 Mar 2014 17:38:01 +0000erapport6996 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgCash-for-Work Program to Aid Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Launcheshttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/cash-work-program-aid-syrian-refugees-lebanon-launches
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Libano_NOV13_-_17.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/Libano_NOV13_-_17.jpg" width="4000" height="2672" alt="Syrian girls" title="Syrian children like these will ultimately benefit from the new initiative. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, C. Gayo" />
<div class="caption">Syrian children like these will ultimately benefit from the new initiative. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, C. Gayo</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>Action Against Hunger has just launched a pioneering cash-for-work project in the towns of Tyre and Nabatieh, south Lebanon. The initiative is providing humanitarian assistance in the form of cash to about 400 unemployed Syrian refugees and host Lebanese, in exchange for labor. Lebanese make up about a third of this group, and the help is needed; hosting many thousands of Syrian refugees has taken a toll on Lebanon's resources and economy, where the refugees now comprise a full 25 percent of the population. While most jobs will involve manual labor and thus employ men, their entire families will benefit from the income they bring in.</p>
<blockquote><p>"Assistance in the form of cash-for-work encourages the active participation of refugees, benefits the community, and involves local authorities. All of these factors help to ease tensions emerging between refugees and Lebanese."</p>
<p>—<em>Martina Iannizzotto, Head of Food Security Programs, Action Against Hunger, South Lebanon</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The beneficiaries will get 15 € a day for 10 days of work per month, for up to three months. Participating men will work six hours per day. The project also provides for the possibility of offering grants to beneficiaries to start income-generating activities, like producing food to sell.</p>
<p>The project also includes the provision of cash grants to applicants who show high vulnerability, as in the case of single mothers or men over 60 who aren't able to perform strenuous manual labor.</p>
<p>Selected participants will work on local teams. Ayman Ibrahim Alghalal, our Head of Administration in Tyre, says "the selected teams will perform work that's needed in their towns, and the work will add value and infrastructure to those towns. " According to Ayman, since the refugees arrived, "the costs of public services in these areas have doubled, a reality that has also led to increased tensions in the communities." </p>
<p>The first round of participant selection took place this past week in Tyre and Nabatieh. In Nabatieh alone, more than 70 applications were received in the first three days. We have high hopes for this project's success, and we thank the Humanitarian Action of the European Commission (ECHO) for the funding support to make it possible.</p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/cash-work-program-aid-syrian-refugees-lebanon-launches" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Cash-for-Work Program to Aid Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Launches" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 13 Feb 2014 22:36:02 +0000erapport6957 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgImpending Winter Threatens the Survival of Syrian Refugeeshttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/impending-winter-threatens-survival-syrian-refugees
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/10-21-13_Syria_crisis.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/10-21-13_Syria_crisis.jpg" width="638" height="425" alt="Refugees like these women face tough times ahead as winter approaches. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, L. Jiminez" title="Refugees like these women face tough times ahead as winter approaches. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, L. Jiminez" />
<div class="caption">Refugees like these women face tough times ahead as winter approaches. Photo: ACF-Lebanon, L. Jiminez</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>As the crisis in <a href="/countries/middle-east/syria">Syria</a> continues to escalate, the already <a href="/blog/staggering-and-sobering-syrian-refugee-total-tops-two-million">staggering number</a> of refugees is still climbing. It is now estimated that there are more than four million internally displaced people in Syria, and more than two million people who have fled to neighboring countries. To meet the needs of this growing population, Action Against Hunger is expanding its programs in the region.</p>
<h2>Cold weather creates more challenges</h2>
<p>The situation for these millions of refugees will soon worsen as winter arrives in the Middle East. As Paolo Lubrano, Action Against Hunger’s Country Director in Lebanon, explains: </p>
<blockquote><p><em>“The arrival of winter snow and rain will make Syrian refugees more vulnerable, as most of them are living in tents made of wood, plastic, and blankets in an area where constant flooding occurs. They are not protected.”</em></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">– Paolo Lubrano, Country Director, Action Against Hunger, Lebanon</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Winter also means the seasonal end of agriculture, which will reduce job opportunities for displaced Syrians struggling to find work. In order to make what little money they can, some Syrian families who were able to flee with their livestock or other belongings are now forced to sell them to make ends meet. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The arrival of winter will not only affect displaced Syrians, it will also impact host populations in neighboring countries whose resources are already being stretched thin by the influx of refugees. For example, <a href="/countries/middle-east/lebanon">Lebanon</a> has already taken in over 1.5 million Syrian refugees—a huge number of people for a country whose own population is only four million. Hospitals and schools in Lebanon are now overcrowded, and competition for jobs is growing as agricultural opportunities decline. Many are worried that the seasonal change will lead to an increase in tensions between the Lebanese and Syrian communities.</span></p>
<h2>A long road to recovery</h2>
<p>Even after the winter months are over, there will still be obstacles to overcome for both refugee and host populations. Jean Raphäel Poitou, Action Against Hunger’s Head of Programs in the Middle East, predicts that it may take years to restore normalcy for people affected by this massive crisis. </p>
<blockquote><p><em>“The situation is becoming more dramatic, and is a humanitarian crisis of immense size that will last for years.”</em></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">– Jean Raphäel Poitou, Head of Programs, Action Against Hunger, Middle East</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">In Lebanon alone, our teams are assisting some 45,000 refugees in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, providing emergency food supplies, hygiene kits, and sanitation solutions to displaced families in nearly 90 different settlements. Though our teams are working tirelessly, there is still much work to be done to prepare for the oncoming cold weather. With your support, we can help more people through the winter months and for years to come.</span></p>
<div> </div>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/impending-winter-threatens-survival-syrian-refugees" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Impending Winter Threatens the Survival of Syrian Refugees" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Mon, 21 Oct 2013 16:07:44 +0000bcollins6851 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgStaggering and Sobering: Syrian Refugee Total Tops Two Millionhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/staggering-and-sobering-syrian-refugee-total-tops-two-million
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/syria-refugee-large-flipped.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/syria-refugee-large-flipped.jpg" width="536" height="377" alt="A young Syrian refugee. Photo: ACF-Lebanon" title="This young girl is a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Lebanon" />
<div class="caption">This young girl is a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Lebanon</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p class="align-justify">Samia* silently sits on the floor, surrounded by tobacco leaves that have been left to dry in the sun. Her wrinkly hands slowly and gently place the leaves in a heap as she gazes into space. The only noise is that of children playing in the distance.</p>
<h2>Lives forever changed</h2>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Drying and curing tobacco leaves is one of the few options Samia has to earn some money. Her new life in Lebanon is completely different to the one she used to have only a couple dozen miles away, across the border in Syria. For weeks she hasn’t had any news from her daughters. "I am so scared for my children," she says. "We used to have land and lost everything." All that she has left are memories; memories of her children, her fields and her home; a life that used to be hers but no longer is.</span></p>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">"When we heard of an impending attack, I knew I must get my family away so we decided to leave our village," said Amir, who cultivates the tobacco leaves Samia is drying in front of the small tent that he now calls home. "I split my family into three groups and fled. We were too scared to walk as a group in case something would happen on the way; at least some of us would have survived if something bad had occurred."</span></p>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">In Syria, Amir worked as a professor of sociology; now he tries to grow tobacco leaves to earn some money. "Bombs were exploding everywhere; we weren’t able to sleep for over a week. A week after we left, our home was hit by a rocket. We lost everything."</span></p>
<blockquote><p>"People arrive without any material belongings, but with so much fear. They fear for themselves, for the family members they left behind, and for not being able to return home."</p>
<p>—<em>Paolo Lubrano, Country Director, Action Against Hunger - Lebanon</em></p></blockquote>
<h2>More than two million desperately need help</h2>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Unfortunately, they aren't alone. A staggering milestone has just been met: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/world/middleeast/flow-of-refugees-out-of-syria-passes-two-million.html?_r=0">more than two million people have now fled Syria</a>, often with little more than the clothes on their back. Our teams are continuing to provide relief to refugees in Lebanon and neighboring countries.</span></p>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Present in Lebanon since 2006, our food security and water and sanitation programs have recently doubled as refugees continue to flee the growing instability in Syria. Our humanitarian experts are distributing ceramic filters for potable water, water storage tanks and emergency hygiene kits, providing safe water and raising hygiene standards. Teams have also launched new relief programs in the Lebanese border town of Masnaa, one of the busiest crossing points between Syria and Lebanon, to respond to the increasing influx of refugees.</span></p>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">The Mesnaa intervention, coordinated with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, supplements our work in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley; we're helping more than 30,000 displaced Syrians with basic sanitation and hygiene there. We're also working in southern Lebanon, prioritizing food distribution to the most vulnerable.</span></p>
<p class="align-justify"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Stay tuned to the blog for more updates on our critical work with Syrian refugees in the region.</span></p>
<p><em style="line-height: 1.538em;">*Names in this post have been changed</em></p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/staggering-and-sobering-syrian-refugee-total-tops-two-million" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Staggering and Sobering: Syrian Refugee Total Tops Two Million" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 05 Sep 2013 21:37:59 +0000erapport6793 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgSyrian Refugees: As Crisis Escalates, Our Response Intensifieshttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/syrian-refugees-crisis-escalates-our-response-intensifies
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/bekaa.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/blog-posts/bekaa.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Bekaa Valley, Lebanon" title="Typical housing for a Syrian refugee family in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Syria" />
<div class="caption">Typical housing for a Syrian refugee family in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Photo: ACF-Syria</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>The crisis in <a href="/countries/middle-east/syria">Syria</a> is going from bad to worse. As the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/world/middleeast/in-syrias-rebel-strongholds-foreign-aid-yields-anger.html?pagewanted=all">New York Times recently reported</a>, the humanitarian needs for the nation’s citizens are staggering – and many are going unmet.</p>
<p>Current conflict conditions in the country are not helping. Last week alone 30,000 families fled the town of Raqqa due to escalating violence, arriving in Deir ez Zour in eastern Syria. In partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), Action Against Hunger’s teams are providing assistance to more than 5,700 of those families – distributing emergency kits containing soap, shampoo, and other toiletries to help prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.</p>
<p>But Syria’s humanitarian issues don’t stop at the border. Since November 2011, more than 860,000 Syrians have fled the violence in their home country and sought refuge in neighboring nations. Some 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, and about 30,000 of those are in the country’s already-poor Bekaa Valley region.</p>
<blockquote><p>“These Syrian refugees are living in precarious conditions. A growing number are living in temporary tents on the outskirts of rural towns. And security is getting worse.”</p>
<p><em>—Paolo Lubrano, Director, Action Against Hunger, Refugee Program for Syrians in Lebanon </em></p></blockquote>
<h2>Improving water, sanitation, and hygiene</h2>
<p>To respond, our teams are helping meet the basic needs of 20,000 Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley. We’re distributing ceramic filters for potable water, water storage tanks, and emergency hygiene kits; providing safe water; and raising hygiene standards. "This is essential to prevent the spread of diseases such as diarrhea, which could aggravate the already fragile situation these people face," according to Lubrano. We’ve also built more than 300 emergency latrines in the areas where Syrian refugees have created settlements. </p>
<blockquote><p>“The crisis in Syria is far from over, and our organization is preparing to meet the needs of Syrian refugees in Lebanon in the best ways possible”</p>
<p><em>—Paolo Lubrano, Director, Action Against Hunger, Refugee Program for Syrians in Lebanon </em></p></blockquote>
<p>Our team remains committed to continuing our work in Lebanon in the months ahead, providing an opportunity for health and hope among Syria’s refugees.</p>
<h2>Tell Us What You Think</h2>
<p><em><strong>What do you see as the main challenges in responding to a rapidly-evolving crisis? What skills do you think our team members need to possess to be successful?</strong></em></p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/syrian-refugees-crisis-escalates-our-response-intensifies" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Syrian Refugees: As Crisis Escalates, Our Response Intensifies" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:04:56 +0000erapport6668 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgLebanonhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/middle-east/lebanon
<div class="hero">
<picture title="Photo: ACF-Lebanon, S. Vera">
<!--[if IE 9]><video style="display: none;"><![endif]-->
<source srcset="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/resp_hero_full_custom_user__784px_1x/public/CountryPage_Lebanon.jpg?itok=_aO5hVN0 1x" media="all and (min-width: 784px)" />
<source srcset="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/resp_hero_full_custom_user__783px_1x/public/CountryPage_Lebanon.jpg?itok=vKqWMyga 1x" media="all and (min-width: 321px) and (max-width: 783px)" />
<source srcset="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/resp_hero_full_custom_user__321px_1x/public/CountryPage_Lebanon.jpg?itok=QHBGBDqR 1x" media="(max-width: 320px)" />
<!--[if IE 9]></video><![endif]-->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/hero_country_node/public/CountryPage_Lebanon.jpg?itok=8aLPqzUR" alt="Action Against Hunger helps farmers like this man rehabilitate crops affected by conflict in Lebanon." title="Photo: ACF-Lebanon, S. Vera" />
<![endif]-->
<!--[if !lt IE 9]><!-->
<img srcset="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/hero_country_node/public/CountryPage_Lebanon.jpg?itok=8aLPqzUR 1180w" alt="Action Against Hunger helps farmers like this man rehabilitate crops affected by conflict in Lebanon." title="Photo: ACF-Lebanon, S. Vera" />
<!-- <![endif]-->
</picture> <div class="caption">Photo: ACF-Lebanon, S. Vera</div> </div><h2 class="beneficiaries clearfix"><span class="label-above beneficiaries-label">People Helped in 2013:&nbsp;</span>519,513</h2><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Lebanon, a historically rich eastern Mediterranean country, is a sharply divided nation whose fragile peace is routinely threatened by conflicts taking place across the Middle East. Beyond the tensions that endure between its various religious and political factions, Lebanon also faces a number of humanitarian hurdles like an underdeveloped agricultural south, a growing refugee burden, and spillover from the war in neighboring Syria.</p>
<p>Southern Lebanon’s economy, in particular, has been weakened by debt, a lack of investment, and ongoing conflicts that have prevented a resurgence of the agricultural sector. The 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, for example, resulted in 1,200 lives lost, $900 million in infrastructure damage, and heavy losses in the agricultural sector as farms were abandoned.</p>
<p>The civil war in Syria has caused an influx of refugees into Lebanon, an estimated 1,046,000 at last count, and these numbers are only expected to increase. A burgeoning refugee population adds tremendous pressures on local health facilities, water and sanitation systems, and food systems and markets -- not to mention growing Lebanese frustrations as wages fall with desperate Syrian refugees willing to do more work for less pay.</p>
<p>Action Against Hunger has had a presence in Lebanon since 2006, initially supporting communities caught in the crossfire during the armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which displaced some 900,000 people. Our food security and water and sanitation programs have only expanded as tensions and instability grow, with our teams distributing livestock, rehabilitating farms and fields, providing veterinary services to prevent disease, and training communities in water and sanitation management. As refugees pour in from the Syrian conflict, our teams will continue to support new arrivals and host communities alike.</p>
</div></div></div><iframe width='286' height='261' frameBorder='0' src='http://a.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/acfusa.map-6gulojt6.html#4/33.97980872872457/35.68359375'></iframe><div class="field field-name-field-safe-water field-type-number-integer field-label-above three-col-2">
<div class="water icon"></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">176,315</div>
<div class="field-label">People Accessed Safe Water and Sanitation&nbsp;</div> <!-- Removed colon! -->
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-economic-self-sufficiency field-type-number-integer field-label-above three-col-3">
<div class="sufficiency icon"></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">343,198</div>
<div class="field-label">People Gained Economic Self Sufficiency&nbsp;</div> <!-- Removed colon! -->
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-our-team field-type-number-integer field-label-above">
<div class="icon-wrap"><div class="icon"></div></div>
<div class="txt">
<div class="field-label">Our Team</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">17 employees</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-date-program-start field-type-datetime field-label-above">
<div class="icon-wrap"><div class="icon"></div></div>
<div class="txt">
<div class="field-label">Program Start</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property=""><span class="date-display-single" property="" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00">2006</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-country-indic-population field-type-text field-label-above">
<div class="icon-wrap"><div class="icon"></div></div>
<div class="txt">
<div class="field-label">Population</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">5.88 million</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span property="dc:title" content="Lebanon" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:57:10 +0000internextrel2827 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgLebanon: Thousands Survive Despite Insufficient Waterhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/lebanon-thousands-survive-despite-insufficient-water
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/header_lebanon_aug31_06.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/header_lebanon_aug31_06.jpg" width="540" height="242" alt="" />
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>International humanitarian aid organization Action Against Hunger’s (ACF) teams of<a href="/node/3279"> water-and-sanitation</a> specialists are at work in the areas of Qana, Sadiquine, Kafra, and Yatar, just 10 kilometers from the Israeli border. They are working around the clock to deal with the complete lack of water derived from the destruction of crucial infrastructure during the war. The teams, along with ACF’s nutrition teams, have had to withdraw several times due to security incidents in the areas.</p>
<p>Action Against Hunger water-and-sanitation specialists have confirmed the complete destruction of the preexisting water distribution systems – water tanks, piping, and other infrastructure. There are only a few subterranean water reserves left, which are very deep and difficult to access even with generators. While these reserves are providing some relief, these sources are being overexploited as they were already providing water for a number of towns before the conflict.</p>
<ul><li>Action Against Hunger water-and-sanitation teams are working around the clock in the region of Qana, 10 km from the Israeli border, to ensure the provision of sufficient drinking water</li>
<li>There is only botteled water in the region, which is unaffordable for a population lacking sufficient resources. Action Against Hunger is responding to meet these emergency needs.</li>
</ul><p>In Kafra, at 6 km from Qana, there are no water reserves of any type. A local provider from a village nearby with access to a private pond is able to provide 4,000 liters for non-drinking purposes (cooking and cleaning) for the 3,000 inhabitants of Kafra once a week. Action Against Hunger is working to ensure15 liters of clean water for every person (the minimal standard established by the World Health Organization)via water distributions and water trucking. Each distribution costs only about $20.00 to deliver water to 3,000 villagers.</p>
<p>In Yatar, two municipal reserves provide non-drinking water to local populations, but they are required to pay out of pocket for the generator fuel and trucking costs associated with these distributions. The majority of the inhabitants in Kafra, by contrast, are not required to pay for such services. The distribution of drinking water, on the other hand, is much more expensive and difficult to provide, as they must buy bottled water in Qana or Tiro and transport it by truck to Yatar.</p>
<p>Action Against Hunger, the only international NGO working in this region, witnesses firsthand the daily hardships confronting the local populations – difficulties made all the more taxing by the fragility of the cease-fire. To facilitate the populations’ access to drinking water, ACF is currently studying the feasibility of installing a series of inflatable water storage bladders, given the existence of unexploded ordinance scattered throughout the region.</p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/lebanon-thousands-survive-despite-insufficient-water" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Lebanon: Thousands Survive Despite Insufficient Water" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:00:00 +0000admin4500 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgCrisis In Lebanon: An Eyewitness Account of Warhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/crisis-lebanon-eyewitness-account-war
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/header_lebanon_aug22_06.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/header_lebanon_aug22_06.jpg" width="540" height="179" alt="" />
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>The bombs are falling less than a kilometer away. The Action Against Hunger (ACF) office in Beirut is in the Shiyeh neighborhood, a frequent target of Israeli attacks. On Sunday, August 13, at noon, a powerful blast shook the windows of the Aoun supermarket where Arantxa, the director, Seigmond, the logistician, and I were shopping for emergency. In war, uncertainty becomes an emergency, so we needed to be prepared. Five hundred meters from the supermarket entrance, we saw a column of thick, black smoke that cleared in the sun within a few minutes.</p>
<p>That was the first upsetting thing that happened to us that day, and we weren't accustomed to it. Since our arrival in Beirut a day and a half earlier, we had heard only the echo of bombs in the distance. It was so early in the morning, that it seemed dreamlike to some of us. We even started to ask ourselves whether the war was here, like a joke. But on Sunday, the storm broke. On the night before an announced cease fire, the noise got louder, and we heard bombs coming closer and closer each time.</p>
<p>All of our plans to continue work in progress and to go into the field were suspended. We had no choice but to follow the bombing from the bedrooms and two terraces at the house, two floors above the office, to see where the bombs had fallen, as if this would make us safer when actually it did not.</p>
<p>Bombs fell less than a kilometer away, four or five blocks from us at the border between Shiyah (a Shiite area) and Forn El Chebbak, where we are located. The attacks are in a perfect semi-circle, as if made by a compass, over a time period that seemed like eternity. There was no continuity between the explosions (we would have wanted that, to get it over with). Two by two at most, the strikes hit, and it was like the beginning of the end of the world. No one knows when—or where—the next strike will hit.</p>
<p>A telecommunications tower antennas on the roof next to the main office increases our fear.This is the type of target that always ends up falling in a war. If that happens, we said, it would be like the flash of an enormous automatic camera, which is blinding and stunning and distorts everything. We are upset by these thoughts, so we change the subject. Forn El Chebbak is a Christian area where it is impossible to hear a muezzin's call to prayer in a mosque, so we can't imagine that they might...we can't finish the thought. A huge blast shakes the house. Our operations are immediately suspended: accounting, distribution of provisions or writing a report as explosive as this one. It is time to run to the windows to seal the glass with tape. It's going to be a long, busy night.</p>
<h2>How We Found a Warehouse</h2>
<p>Between the bombings, Segimond Garcia-Prades, the logistician, spoke by telephone with Mr. Nabil, a Sunni from Saida (Sidon), where ACF is distributing hygiene kits for adults and children, blankets, pillows, and water in 31 refugee centers, for a total of almost 9,000 beneficiaries. Like every good logistician, Segimond is a go-getter, like a genie who always anticipates and meets needs. Two weeks ago, he and Mr. Nabil negotiated the rental of a place from Mr. Nabil, which was needed to store the aid that continues to arrive in Lebanon. (The last delivery will be made in a few days on a French cargo vessel). The conversation that was interrupted by the bombs was the next-to-last in a series of attempts to close the rental contract, which has been agreed to but was aborted by a series of strange coincidences last Thursday. The cause for delay shows how the Lebanese are living through this crisis.</p>
<p>Segimond states: "It is impossible to find a warehouse in Saida. The warehouses that exist have been converted into refugee shelters. We have to consider that, in addition to the 60,000 city inhabitants, there more than 120,000 displaced persons from the south of the country. So, the possibility of finding a warehouse is slim. A few days ago, after visiting a couple of them, I found one that had the right conditions. I went over the city's papers, found a rental contract in Arabic and French, and gave a $100 deposit to the owner. A few hours later, they informed us from Beirut that a shipment of blankets and mattresses was en route. We waited for the truck in front of City Hall, which is the city's meeting place and where many temporary workers gather. Jamal, the local logistics assistant, made an agreement with three men there to unload the truck. Everything was going well. But when the shipment had already entered the warehouse, one of the men from the neighborhood came down and stood looking at the packages from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). There was terror on his face: The labels were in Arabic and the packages came from Iran!!! On top of that, the four men who unloaded the truck turned out to be Iranian. The people in the neighborhood started screaming to the heavens and many of them went to stay with friends to sleep that night. The trucks make them very afraid, because they are Israeli targets, and if in addition the cargo is packed in Iran and the team members are Iranian...?! The next day, Mr. Nabil asked us to leave the warehouse."</p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/crisis-lebanon-eyewitness-account-war" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="Crisis In Lebanon: An Eyewitness Account of War" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:00:00 +0000admin4446 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.orgSouth Lebanon: 200,000 People Left Without Shelterhttp://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/south-lebanon-200000-people-left-without-shelter
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:image" resource="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/AGUA_SURLIBAN_006.jpg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://dd0jh6c2fb2ci.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/AGUA_SURLIBAN_006.jpg" width="1280" height="960" alt="" />
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:text content:encoded"><p>People are living in schools and warehouses in the absence of basic <a href="/node/3279">hygiene and sanitation</a> conditions. Action Against Hunger continues to distribute drinking water and hygiene kits to 50,000 people in Sidon and will soon launch an emergency programme in the south of the country.</p>
<p>Around 70% of people taking refuge in Sidon have left the town to go back to their homes. However, many families were forced to return again due to the extremely heavy traffic in Tiro or because they found their homes completely destroyed. Other refugees have remained in Sidon out of fear that until a UN peacekeeping force is deployed in Southern <a href="/countries/middle-east/lebanon">Lebanon</a>, the situation will remain dangerous.</p>
<p>Action Against Hunger's warehouse in Sidon continues to supply emergency aid (hygiene and sanitation material for adults and children, drinking water, blankets and mattresses) to 31 refugee centres, located predominantly in schools.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the Obaida family (three sisters, one of them a widow, and two young girls) arrived at one of the centres. "We have nowhere to go. Our village is located 7km from the Israeli border and has been destroyed. We rely on agriculture for a living but we have lost our harvest," says Faruz Obaida. Another 30 families are taking refuge in the same shelter.</p>
<p>For others, traffic congestion towards southern Lebanon means that it might take days to get there. In addition, it is impossible to return to Beirut via that same motorway as all lanes currently are being used to travel south.</p>
<p>According to Lebanese sources, 15,000 houses have been completely destroyed in the southern part of the country alone. Another 10,000 houses need to be reconstructed. 200,000 people are estimated to have been left without a home.</p>
<p>Action Against Hunger has launched a Middle East crisis appeal. Please call 08705 100 722 or visit <a href="http://www.aahuk.org">www.aahuk.org</a> if you would like to make a donation.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Other Press Contact</h2>
<p><strong>In Lebanon:</strong><br /> Maria Antonia Sanchez Vallejo<br /> Tel: 0034 628 938571</p>
</div></div></div><span rel="schema:url" resource="/blog/south-lebanon-200000-people-left-without-shelter" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="schema:name" content="South Lebanon: 200,000 People Left Without Shelter" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:00:00 +0000admin4445 at http://www.actionagainsthunger.org